本科英语专业文学类毕业论文.doc

The Cry of the Marginalized People in MulticulturalismThe Analysis of The Loons and Its Deeper Cultural ConnotationAbstract Canada is a country based on multiculturalism, in which the white dominate the mainstream culture, while the aboriginal culture is in the condition of marginalization. In The Loons, Margaret Laurence describes a marginalized minority girl-Piquettes short but miserable life, who keeps struggling to blend into the mainstream society, but finally ends herself with hopelessness. Laurence also describes the tragic ending of the loons under the development of human civilization, along with Piquettes whole life. This paper is composed of four parts. In the introduction, the author introduces the cultural and historical background in the writing of The Loons, the course of Laurences literary creation, and the main content of The Loons. In the second part, the author shows Piquettes complicated characters, and the two important figures of speech in the story-symbolism and pun, which make The Loons short but with great power. In the third part, the author reveals two deeper cultural connotations in The Loons: one is post-colonial feminism, which appeals for people to fight for the rights and interests of women in the Third World; the other is Laurences ecological view. She expresses great concern about the ecological problems, appealing to the protection of the ecological environment. In the conclusion, the author summarizes the main content of the paper with three words: high artistic quality, sociality, and ideological content.Key Words: Multiculturalism; Marginalization; Artistic features; Post-colonial feminism; Ecological environment多元文化下边缘人的呐喊解析潜鸟及其深层文化内涵摘 要加拿大是个有着多元文化的国家，其中白人占据着主流文化，土著文化处于边缘化状态。在潜鸟中，玛格丽特劳伦斯描述了一个被边缘化了的少数民族女孩-皮格特短暂而悲惨的一生。她为融入主流社会而不断的奋斗与抗争，却最终带着绝望结束了自己的生命。劳伦斯还将潜鸟在人类文明的不断发展中走向灭亡的悲惨经历穿插在对皮格特一生的描述当中。该论文主要由四部分组成，在第一部分的简介中，作者介绍了潜鸟写作时的历史文化背景，劳伦斯文学创作的变化，及潜鸟的主要内容。在第二部分中，作者呈现了劳伦斯所塑造的皮格特这一复杂多变的性格特征，还有小说中的两大表现手法-象征和双关，它们的应用使这篇小说虽短却意味深长。在第三部分中，作者揭示了潜鸟的两个主要深层文化内涵：一个是后殖民女性主义思想，呼吁人们为第三世界的女性争取权益；另一个是劳伦斯的生态观，她在这篇小说中表达了对生态问题的深切关怀，呼吁人们保护生态环境。在结尾中，作者用三组词总结了该论文的主要内容，即高艺术性、社会性、思想性。关键词：多元文化；边缘化；艺术特色；后殖民女性主义；生态环境ContentsAbstracti摘 要ii1 Introduction12 Artistic Appreciation of The Loons42.1 Distinct Description of Piquettes Complicated Characters42.1.1 Piquettes Coldness and Stolidity in the Beginning42.1.2 Piquettes Great Devotion to Life Four Years Later52.1.3 Piquettes Hopelessness After the Failure of Marriage62.2 Symbolism in The Loons72.2.1 The Symbolism of the Environments72.2.2 The Symbolism of the Spirit82.2.3 The Symbolism of the Ending92.3 Pun in The Loons93 The Deeper Cultural Connotation in The Loons123.1 Post-colonial Feminism123.2 Ecological View in The Loons-Conflicts Between Human Civilization and Ecological Environment134 Conclusion15References17Acknowledgements19毕业设计（论文）知识产权声明20毕业设计（论文）独创性声明21- 20 -西安工业大学学士学位论文The Cry of the Marginalized People in MulticulturalismThe Analysis of The Loons and Its Deeper Cultural Connotation1 Introduction Canada is a country with multi-culture, multi-ethnics, and multi-religions, which is composed of immigrants and aboriginal peoples. Because of the complicated composition of the ethnics, for one thing, Canadian culture has various and colorful features, for another, there exists serious national contradiction and conflict of interests resulting from different culture, traditions, customs, religions, and some other values. Canadian national literature is rooted in the multiculturalism. Nation assimilation is a kind of phenomenon that a nation or a part of a nation loses its own national features, becoming another nation. 1 For a long time, the Canadian mainstream culture was possessed by British and French culture, while aboriginal culture was oppressed and assimilated, resulting in their low social status and education level. Hence, Canadian writers in that period were almost the descendants of white settlers, whose literary themes were living conditions of the white. At the same time, a few writers began to focus on the aboriginal culture. For example, E. Carl wrote lots of novels about the Indian culture, and created a unique theme of Canadian literature. From the 1960s to the 1980s, it is an unprecedented booming period for Canadian national literature. The subjects of literary works in that period became increasingly diverse, and works focused on the female psychology and living conditions of minorities increased. Meanwhile, there emerged a large number of outstanding writers, and Margaret Laurence was the best representative. White person as Laurence was, she did not make the white culture the center of her literary works. Laurence stayed several years in Africa, and had profound observation on the surrounding life, which made her have special feelings to the marginalized people suffering from long-term colonial oppression, and made her have deep understandings to the Canadian multiculturalism. Therefore, her works often showed the living conditions of marginalized people in multiculturalism. Marginal existence and survival became one of her main literary themes, which made her woks have distinctive artistic features and profound ideological content. Her masterpiece The Loons described the living conditions of marginalized people under multiculturalism, and revealed the cultural dilemma and survival plight of ethnic minorities after cultural colonization. Margaret Laurence was born in a little prairie town of Canada in 1926. After graduation in 1947, she married Jack Laurence, who was an engineer. In 1949, they moved to Britain, and then moved to Ghana in Africa, where Laurence bore two children. Her life experience in Africa offered her abundant writing resources. As a result, her early works was centered on the African life and their fight for survival, freedom, and independence. In 1957, the Laurences settled back to Canada, thus her literary creation entered a new period. Her literary themes began to completely turn to Canadian life, in which the most famous are the Manawaka series short stories, including four long stories -The Stone Angel, A Jest of God, The fire-dwellers, The diviners and a collection of short stories-A Bird in the House. The five stories laid the foundation of Margaret Laurences status in Canadian literature, and made her rise to fame all around the world. The collection of short stories-A Bird in the House published in 1970 gathered Laurences eight short stories, which are closely related. This is a collection with a nature of biography. Through the telling of the little heroin-Vanessa Macleod, the author showed from the eye of a kid the complicated characters under the complicated environment. The Loons is one of the most wonderful stories in Manawaka series. Manawaka is a virtual environment, whose prototype is the birthplace of Margaret Laurence. Small as Manawaka was, it was a microcosm of Canadian society. The 1970s was an alternate period of Canadian old and new cultural policies. As a new writer focusing on social life, Margaret Laurence had deep feelings about Canadian multiculturalism, and she turned the literary theme to the living conditions of marginalized people in the multicultural environment. In The Loons, Laurence used the first-person narrative of the little heroin Vanessa, who told the Metis girl Piquette Tonnerres life. She lived in a shack in a clearing of the thicket, as is said in the novel. Her father and grandfather hang on drinking and brawl, and her mother took off because of the unbearable burden of the family. Because of the tuberculosis, Piquette was often absent from the class. She was usually silent and cold, even though she was in Diamond Lake with “my” family. Although grateful to “my” father, she never expressed her feelings. Confronted with her frosty response again and again, “I” lost patience on her and gradually drifted apart with her. Four years later, when “I” met her again in a cafe, she was just like another person. “Her face, so stolid and expressionless before, was animated now with a gaiety that was almost violent.”3 She talked to “me” actively, proudly announcing that she was going to get married with a white boy. But when talking with my mother several years later, “I” got the news of her death. After the failure of marriage, “she came back with her two babies, drinking most of the day.” 3 Then on a cold winter night, she died in a big fire at home, along with her two babies. Only when “I” went back to Diamond Lake again, which had been changed to a national park, did “I” really understand Piquette. Under the pressure of industrial civilization, Piquette, as a marginalized person, was just like the loons, losing the home, ending to destruction at last. This paper is composed of four parts. In the introduction, the author introduces the cultural and historical background in the writing of The Loons, the course of Laurences literary creation, and the main content of The Loons. In the second part, the author shows Piquettes complicated characters, and the two important figures of speech in the story-symbolism and pun, which make The Loons short but with great power. In the third part, the author reveals two deeper cultural connotations in The Loons: one is post-colonial feminism, which appeals for people to fight for the rights and interests of women in the Third World; the other is Laurences ecological view. She expresses great concern about the ecological problems, appealing to protection of the ecological environment. In the conclusion, the author summarizes the main content of the paper with three words: high artistic quality, sociality, and ideological content.2 Artistic Appreciation of The Loons There are great artistic features in The Loons. Laurence successfully represents Piquettes complicated and changeable characters with simple words. The usage of symbolism and pun is the biggest feature in The Loons, which makes the story short but with profound power.2.1 Distinct Description of Piquettes Complicated Characters A successful character is full of complexity and contradictions, and is constantly changing. 4 By using the first person narrative, Laurence showed Piquettes complicated and changeable characters. In The Loons, “my” eyes were focused on the two close contacts between Piquette and “I”, which showed the distinct change of her characters. The changing process of Piquettes character is divided into three period: the first is her coldness and stolidity in Diamond Lake, the second is her great devotion to life when “I” met her four years later, and the last is her hopelessness after the failure of marriage.2.1.1 Piquettes Coldness and Stolidity in the Beginning Generally speaking, character is decided by the living environment. In the story, Piquettes character is decided by both social environment and family environment. In terms of social environment, after the failure of Riels revolt, Metis lost their lands, completely becoming the lowest social class, as a result, they could not find their right position in the white mainstream society. As falfbreeds of French and Indians, among themselves they spoke a patois that was neither Cree nor French. They did not belong among the Cree of the Galloping Mountain reservation, further north, and they did not belong among the Scots-Irish and Ukrainians of Manawaka, either. 3 They were discriminated by the white mainstream society. As “my” grandmother put it, neither flesh, fowl, nor good salt herring. 3 Although she was “my” classmate, “I” did not actually notice her very much until that peculiar summer when “I” was seven.3 Piquette grew up without sense of belonging in such a cold society. In terms of family environment, Piquette grew up in a family lacking warmth and love with each other. Her mother took off several years ago. Having lost the hostess in the family, her father and grandfather gradually threw themselves into the drinking world. As a result, the family became worse and worse, and Piquette as a child was responsible for the whole housework. It can not be avoided that Piquette became cold and stolid in such a family. As her brother with a face that seemed totally unfamiliar with laughter, Piquette was also a person who was not welcome: with her hoarse voice and her clumsy limping walk and her grimy cotton dresses that were always miles too long. 3 In Diamond Lake, “I” noticed that her broad coarse-featured face bore no expression-it was blank, as though she no longer dwelt within her own skull, as though she had gone elsewhere. 3 When “I” approached her, she looked at “me” with a sudden flash of scorn; when “I” tried to talk with her, she was stolid; when “I” asked her to have a walk, she shook her head. Under her apparent coldness, there concealed her extreme inferiority in face of the white child. When “I” regarded Piquette as a daughter of the forest, and asked her to say something about the forest, she was thoroughly offended, looking at me from her large dark unsmiling eyes, and shouted to me. In Piquettes eyes, the white were interested in her family to sneer at them. She safeguarded her least self-esteem with twisted autism and coldness. This is the iceberg in Piquettes characters.2.1.2 Piquettes Great Devotion to Life Four Years Later Laurence stressed comparison when showing Piquettes great devotion to life four years later. Having met Piquette in a cafe four years later, “I” was greatly surprised. She was almost another person, “her face, so stolid and expressionless before, was animated now with a gaiety that was almost violent.” “She laughed and talked loudly with the boys around her. Her lipstick was bright carmine, and her hair was cut short and frizzily permed.” 3 Her great change was presented not only in her appearance. It was her change in psychology and behavior that made her completely different. She walked to “me” when seeing “me”, which made “me” startled compared with her attitude to “me” before four years. Laurence gradually made Piquette uncovered through the striking comparison of the two extreme characters, which gave readers great shock and sense of tragedy. For Piquette, marrying a white person is the only way to blend into the mainstream society, and also the only way to live a life with dignity. When she announced with great joy that she was going to get married with a white boy: “All the old bitches an biddies in this town will sure be surpriseda very tall guy, got blond wavy hair. Gee, is he handsome. Got this classy name. Alvin Gerald Cummings-some handle, eh?” “I” saw that her defiant face, momentarily, became unguarded and unmasked, and in her eyes there was a terrifying hope. 3 Her sudden enthusiasm made me embarrassed. Confused about her great change, I could only guess how great her need must have been, that she had been forced to seek the very things she so bitterly rejected. 3 Her desire for love and sense of belonging was greatly comparative with her coldness four years ago.2.1.3 Piquettes Hopelessness After the Failure of Marriage Piquettes marriage is doomed to be a failure. “My” mother said, “either her husband left her, or she left him”. It can be guessed that they fell in love with each other in the beginning, and he was attracted by the Indian girls wild beauty and great energy, while Piquette also desired the true love with the white man. This marriage was unusual in the mainstream society. Her husband either could not bear others mock and pressure from society, or looked down upon Piquettes shortcomings because of her lack of family education, above all, he abandoned her at last. Pqiuette did not obtain well-off, happiness and sense of belonging that she had been looking forward to. On the contrary, she suffered more coldness, discrimination and humiliation from the white people. Her unyielding character made her escape from the miserable marriage. People will become psychologically abnormal, even twisted when the basic needs can not be fulfilled. 5 After the failure of marriage, she came home with two babies and broken-heart. Shed put on an awful lot of weight, and she looked a mess.a real slattern, dressed any old how. She was up in court a couple of times-drunk and disorderly. 3 Clearly，she became completely hopeless after the failure of marriage, living a life as her father and grandfather, just like a walking body. At last, she died in a big fire with broken-heart and hopelessness. The cruel life destroyed her vulnerable dignity, and the cold society broke up her fragile dream. She woke up in sufferance through marriage, but ended herself with hopelessness. In the story, Piquettes character changed greatly with ups and downs. Her complicated character is vividly depicted by simple words and distinctive style, which is one of the most successful aspects in the description of characters in The Loons.2.2 Symbolism in The Loons Symbolism is the biggest feature in The Loons. There are two clues in The Loons, in which one is Piquettes destiny, and the other is the destiny of the loons. The loon, as the second clue of the story, is closely connected with the direct description of Piquette. In other words, the loon represents Piquette, and the loon is a symbol of Piquette. Symbolism in the story is showed in three aspects: the symbolism of the environments, the symbolism of the spirit, and the symbolism of the ending.2.2.1 The Symbolism of the Environments The Canadian loon is a kind of living creature that got close to extinction. They originally lived in the primitive forests, like Diamond Lake. But with the development of human civ